


all the devils are here

by hailingstars



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Devil All the Time (2020)
Genre: Ambiguity, Angry Peter Parker, Angst, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Awesome May Parker (Spider-Man), Dark Peter Parker, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt Peter Parker, Insomnia, Multiverse, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Please enjoy :), Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, i don't know guys, may contain tdatt spoilers, more characters may be added, or are they, talk of sexual assault
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:28:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26502916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hailingstars/pseuds/hailingstars
Summary: “It wasn’t a dream,” he said, his voice shook. He cleared his throat. “My father was a clown and I shot a vampire.”Peter realized how ridiculous he sounded only after the words spilled from his mouth. Mr. Stark crinkled his face, and Peter knew the only reason he wasn’t laughing was because his worry was deep enough for them both to drown in.“Mysterio hit you pretty hard with that gun,” said Mr. Stark. “That’s what it was meant to do – scramble your brain, fill it with things –““-No, it was real.”ORPeter is plagued with nightmares about other places, other worlds. Determined not to worry Mr. Stark and May, he keeps it to himself, and everything unravels from there.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 13
Kudos: 100





	all the devils are here

**Author's Note:**

> hi I'm back I don't really know what this fic is or where it's going so enjoy at your own risk
> 
> (.... I am going to update out there the next chapter is almost finished...)
> 
> also!! this first chapter may contain spoilers for the devil all the time, and probably every chapter will after that 
> 
> heed the tags friends

Peter’s eyes snapped open, but it wasn’t like he was waking up.

He was drenched in sweat, his hair sticky and matted, his legs twisted in the thin white sheets they kept in the Medbay rooms inside Avenger’s Tower. The lights were out, and the curtains were drawn over the windows, and Peter wished both these things weren’t true. It was harder, in the dark, to calm the thoughts racing through his head. To cool the anger prickling under his skin, to sooth the ache in his chest.

Peter inhaled, sharp and loud and coming out more like a gasp, making him realize he hadn’t felt air fill his lungs for some unmeasurable amount of time. His noisy breathing brought the bundle of blankets sitting on the armchair next to his hospital bed to life. Peter flinched, then froze, only to relax once the top blankets fell to the floor and Mr. Stark’s head became visible.

“Damnit Rhodes,” he muttered, shaking more blankets to the floor, until he was fully visible. “Complain about being cold one time…”

Peter’s heart still raced, thumped around in his chest like something wild caged up, but he managed to control his breathing. His breaths, although they were still shaky, came slower.

Mr. Stark looked at him, brown eyes wide. Peter blinked back.

It wasn’t like waking up.

What Peter had experienced, over and over. It was more like coming home, as if he visited his nightmares in some other land. Someplace planets away, but still near enough to touch standing on his tippy toes with his tips of his fingers. Someplace darker than the hospital room.

“Peter…” Mr. Stark’s voice died away. His eyes were more tired than worried. He didn’t know what to say. Never did. Peter didn’t mind so much, seeing as he couldn’t remember exactly how many times in the last few days he’s come home from his nightmares. “You’re okay. You’re at Avenger’s Tower, and…” He stood from the chair, pressed his hand into Peter’s shoulder. “I’m real. I’m right here.”

Peter frowned, then remembered just as Mr. Stark took his hand away that the last time he left his nightmares he’d thought the Other Place was his home. That he clawed and shouted, that he was certain he needed to get back there. There was something he was supposed to do.

This time it was different.

He separated home from the Other Place, and not only that. He remembered. Bits and pieces. Faces. Feelings. A blinding rage. A sadness that wrapped around his heart like a thorny vine and never went away. A duty that went beyond any of his own desires, and sometimes, even his needs.

“It wasn’t a dream,” he said, his voice shook. He cleared his throat. “My father was a clown and I shot a vampire.”

Peter realized how ridiculous he sounded only after the words spilled from his mouth. Mr. Stark crinkled his face, and Peter knew the only reason he wasn’t laughing was because his worry was deep enough for them both to drown in.

“Mysterio hit you pretty hard with that gun,” said Mr. Stark. “That’s what it was meant to do – scramble your brain, fill it with things –“

“-No, _it was real._ ”

He gripped the sheets and tried to get untwisted from them, not completely understanding the rage he felt at Mr. Stark’s doubt. His frustration stayed even once he was free, and his glare caught Mr. Stark’s still crinkled face.

“Okay so maybe he wasn’t really a clown,” said Peter, quiet. Maybe, he thought, since he was afraid of clowns and afraid of this man who was supposed to be his father in the Other Place, something got crossed. “He was more like a soldier.” 

“Pete, it wasn’t anybody,” said Mr. Stark. “It’s my ex-employee from hell. He’s messed around inside your skull and now you’re seeing clowns and vampires. I’m gonna kill him.”

“I think the vampire was a preacher. He deserved to be shot,” said Peter, then quickly added, “I’m not crazy.”

“I didn’t say…” Mr. Stark’s voice trailed away for the second time, growing a bit frustrated himself. His lips parted several times before words came out. “Of course you’re not crazy. I didn’t mean to imply that you were.”

Peter sighed, and struggled to sit up, and when it became clear he couldn’t do it on his own, allowed Mr. Stark to help him. His body ached, the more and more present he became, though he didn’t think it hurt quite as bad as his head or his heart.

Flashes of Mysterio and that ridiculous gun came unbidden.

He hadn’t been afraid. He’d stood, dressed as Spidey, with his hands on his hips, staring and quipping. The gun had looked like a toy and reminded Peter of the bubble gun he owned when he was little, the one that drove Aunt May crazy because he never really listened to her about only playing with it outside.

If he’d realized what was about to happen after Mysterio pulled the trigger, he would’ve been scared, almost as scared as he was now.

“Is May here?” asked Peter.

“She never left,” said Mr. Stark. “She’s in the room next door, sleeping.”

Peter paused, wondered how and why he’d forgotten she’d been around after he’s come back home, and worried about how much he’d worried her. Looking at Mr. Stark, with his dark circles and his tired eyes, he felt a stab of guilt. He welcomed it. Guilt was a familiar feeling, one he knew didn’t come from the Other Place.

“Can you go and get her?” He asked the question before realizing that this might make Mr. Stark worry more. They’d been in this situation before Mysterio. Stays in the Medbay were common, but Peter had never asked for his aunt to be woken up before.

Mr. Stark didn’t mention it. He nodded his head, a few too many times, then turned and left Peter alone in the darkness.

He would have liked to let May sleep. She needed rest, probably, but he needed to see her. He needed to see she was here and that she was real and that she wasn’t rotting away in some grave or dying from something Peter couldn’t save her from. That May would be here when he left and came back.

So it was necessary, for his own sake, just to worry them one last time before he covered the wound with a lie.

May appeared in the doorway, with a blanket over her shoulders and slippers on her feet. She walked over the hospital bed, Mr. Stark following her, and pushed his damp hair off his forehead.

“You’re awake,” she said. She sat down on the edge of his bed and looked at him, the same way she’d look at him when he returned safe after a particularly dangerous Avenger’s mission. May smiled. “It’s good to see you sitting up, kiddo.”

“It’s good to be sitting up.”

“You had another one? Another nightmare?”

Peter’s eyes flickered over to Mr. Stark, then locked back with May’s. He mustered up a pained smile. “Yeah, just another – It was just another nightmare.”

“Hopefully the last one.”

“Actually I think it was,” said Peter. He could say for sure. If he visited the Other Place again, he wouldn’t be mentioning to another. “I think I’m back.”

May exhaled, and her shoulders slumped forward, as if all this time, she’d had something heavy sitting on her back. “Good.”

“Great,” said Mr. Stark. He clapped his hands together, walked over to the window and pulled the curtains back. The sun was coming up, and the New York skyline was orange and purple and blue. “Now I can go kill the wizard.”

“Doctor Strange?” asked Peter, his voice going up an octave.

“No the Walmart version.”

Peter hadn’t understood it before. Mr. Stark’s drive to go out and fight for vengeance first, justice later. He did now, though, so he didn’t stop him when Mr. Stark turned from the window and started towards the door.

He stopped once he got there, turned again, and looked at Peter. “It’s good to have you back, kid.”

“Good to be back.” Peter managed a full smile that time.

Mr. Stark nodded once, satisfied with the band-aid, then left him and May.

Next time Peter visited the Other Place was two hours later, when he dozed off while watching an episode of Parks and Rec. His stay this time was short and when he went back home, his breaths were easier and his lies were smooth.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading this tropey short prologue more chapters really whenever I get the chance I've been struggling lots with my writing lately due to 2020 being a dumpster fire so sub at your own risk
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated


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